Recent developments in X-ray tests of quantum electrodynamicsThis paper was presented at the International Conference on Precision Physics of Simple Atomic Systems, held at University of Windsor, Windsor, Ontario, Canada on 21–26 July 2008.

2009 ◽  
Vol 87 (7) ◽  
pp. 763-772 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. T. Chantler ◽  
J. A. Kimpton

Experimental tests of quantum electrodynamics (QED) have developed dramatically for simple systems of hydrogen and helium, but there has also been significant progress for medium-Z hydrogenic and helium-like atoms over the last few years. In this area, tests are often based on X-ray spectroscopic measurements, and here we review some key developments. Of particular interest is the status of few-electron QED in the medium-Z regime, the fine-structure Lamb shift from X-ray measurements, tests of two-electron QED, and of np subshell and excited state QED. We discuss some recent secondary tests of the data to confirm the quality and different approaches to experimental development to address the dominant systematics in this area.

2011 ◽  
Vol 89 (1) ◽  
pp. 153-158 ◽  
Author(s):  
P. Berceau ◽  
R. Battesti ◽  
M. Fouché ◽  
C. Rizzo

In this contribution to PSAS 2010 we describe the status of the BMV experiment whose goal is to measure the vacuum magnetic birefringence that would represent a pure test for quantum electrodynamics. We present our latest experimental data obtained from Cotton–Mouton measurements of different gases.


2009 ◽  
Vol 87 (7) ◽  
pp. 791-797 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. L. Cesar ◽  
G. B. Andresen ◽  
W. Bertsche ◽  
P. D. Bowe ◽  
C. C. Bray ◽  
...  

Cold antihydrogen has been produced at CERN (Amoretti et al. (Nature, 419, 456 (2002)), Gabrielse et al. (Phys. Rev. Lett. 89, 213401 (2002))), with the aim of performing a high-precision spectroscopic comparison with hydrogen as a test of the CPT symmetry. Hydrogen, a unique system used for the development of quantum mechanics and quantum electrodynamics, has been continuously used to produce high-precision tests of theories and measurements of fundamental constants and can lead to a very sensitive search for CPT violation. After the initial production of cold antihydrogen atoms by the ATHENA group, the ALPHA Collaboration ( http://alpha.web.cern.ch/ ) has set forth on an experiment to trap and perform high-resolution laser spectroscopy on the 1S-2S transition of both atoms. In this contribution, we will review the motivations, goals, techniques, and recent developments towards this fundamental physics test. We present new discussion on predicted lineshapes for the 1S-2S spectroscopy of trapped atoms in a regime not discussed before.


2019 ◽  
Vol 70 (8) ◽  
pp. 2747-2752
Author(s):  
Constantin Marutoiu ◽  
Ioan Bratu ◽  
Mircea Gelu Buta ◽  
Olivia Florena Nemes ◽  
Sergiu Petru Timbus(Monk Siluan) ◽  
...  

A two-sided wooden icon from a monastery in Transylvania was submitted for multidisciplinary investigations involving X-Ray Fluorescence, Radiographic Photographyand Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy. The most important part of the icon is St. Nicholas wooden icon, painted over forty years ago. The spectroscopic methods used revealed the painting materials composition, the status of the wooden stage, and the presence of resins as varnish (Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy). On one side, the St Nicholasicon was painted over an old icon, St. Arch. Michael, which was evidenced by X-Ray Photography. The obtained data can serve for the preservation and the restoration of these wooden icons.


The recycling and reuse of materials and objects were extensive in the past, but have rarely been embedded into models of the economy; even more rarely has any attempt been made to assess the scale of these practices. Recent developments, including the use of large datasets, computational modelling, and high-resolution analytical chemistry, are increasingly offering the means to reconstruct recycling and reuse, and even to approach the thorny matter of quantification. Growing scholarly interest in the topic has also led to an increasing recognition of these practices from those employing more traditional methodological approaches, which are sometimes coupled with innovative archaeological theory. Thanks to these efforts, it has been possible for the first time in this volume to draw together archaeological case studies on the recycling and reuse of a wide range of materials, from papyri and textiles, to amphorae, metals and glass, building materials and statuary. Recycling and reuse occur at a range of site types, and often in contexts which cross-cut material categories, or move from one object category to another. The volume focuses principally on the Roman Imperial and late antique world, over a broad geographical span ranging from Britain to North Africa and the East Mediterranean. Last, but not least, the volume is unique in focusing upon these activities as a part of the status quo, and not just as a response to crisis.


1998 ◽  
Vol 4 (S2) ◽  
pp. 378-379
Author(s):  
Z. W. Chen ◽  
D. B. Wittry

A monochromatic x-ray microprobe based on a laboratory source has recently been developed in our laboratory and used for fluorescence excitation. This technique provides high sensitivity (ppm to ppb), nondestructive, quantitative microanalysis with minimum sample preparation and does not require a high vacuum specimen chamber. It is expected that this technique (MMXRF) will have important applications in materials science, geological sciences and biological science.Three-dimensional focusing of x-rays can be obtained by using diffraction from doubly curved crystals. In our MMXRF setup, a small x-ray source was produced by the bombardment of a selected target with a focused electron beam and a toroidal mica diffractor with Johann pointfocusing geometry was used to focus characteristic x-rays from the source. In the previous work ∼ 108 photons/s were obtained in a Cu Kα probe of 75 μm × 43 μm in the specimen plane using the fifth order reflection of the (002) planes of mica.


2018 ◽  
Vol 25 (4) ◽  
pp. 1135-1143 ◽  
Author(s):  
Faisal Khan ◽  
Suresh Narayanan ◽  
Roger Sersted ◽  
Nicholas Schwarz ◽  
Alec Sandy

Multi-speckle X-ray photon correlation spectroscopy (XPCS) is a powerful technique for characterizing the dynamic nature of complex materials over a range of time scales. XPCS has been successfully applied to study a wide range of systems. Recent developments in higher-frame-rate detectors, while aiding in the study of faster dynamical processes, creates large amounts of data that require parallel computational techniques to process in near real-time. Here, an implementation of the multi-tau and two-time autocorrelation algorithms using the Hadoop MapReduce framework for distributed computing is presented. The system scales well with regard to the increase in the data size, and has been serving the users of beamline 8-ID-I at the Advanced Photon Source for near real-time autocorrelations for the past five years.


2004 ◽  
Vol 48 (2) ◽  
pp. 268-270 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jon C. Lovett

At the 1999 International Botanical Congress held in St Louis, Missouri, the President of the Congress, Dr Peter Raven, presented a keynote address emphasizing the importance of plants to human existence and underlined concerns that the Earth is undergoing a human-induced extinction crisis. One of the resolutions of the congress was to establish a new co-ordinating body associated with the United Nations to monitor the status of plants throughout the world and take steps to conserve them. The resolutions were followed up with a meeting in Gran Canaria on 3–4 April, 2000 when leading botanists met to formulate a declaration which could be taken forward to the fifth Conference of the Parties (CoP5) to the Convention on Biological Diversity held in Nairobi in May 2000. CoP5 recognized that plant diversity is a common concern of humankind and an essential resource for the planet, with as many as two-thirds of the world's plant species in danger of extinction, and proposed that at the sixth meeting of the Conference of the Parties (CoP6) the establishment of a global strategy for plant conservation should be considered. A strategy with 16 targets was presented and adopted at the CoP6 meeting held in The Hague in April 2002. These targets differ from the normal approach adopted in the Convention on Biological Diversity of using general principles that can be interpreted by national policy, in that they are quantified.


2021 ◽  
Vol 0 (0) ◽  
Author(s):  
Esha Mishra ◽  
Subrata Majumder ◽  
Shikha Varma ◽  
Peter A. Dowben

Abstract X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (XPS) has been used to study the interactions of heavy metal ions with DNA with some success. Surface sensitivity and selectivity of XPS are advantageous for identifying and characterizing the chemical and elemental structure of the DNA to metal interaction. This review summarizes the status of what amounts to a large part of the photoemission investigations of biomolecule interactions with metals and offers insight into the mechanism for heavy metal-bio interface interactions. Specifically, it is seen that metal interaction with DNA results in conformational changes in the DNA structure.


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